


one week at a time

by matsinko



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - High School, Domestic Kat Cass Talon is my jam, Emotions … emotions everywhere, F/F, I wrote this instead of studying, Quick Conflagration, There is a reason I promise, Very quick pace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 04:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5770567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matsinko/pseuds/matsinko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kat meets Riven on a Tuesday. </p><p>She is made of whites and reds and golden and she comes like the storm Kat has been waiting for forever.</p><p>Katarina-centric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	one week at a time

**Tuesday**

You always hated Tuesday mornings, even more than Monday ones.

Mondays you could handle, they were right after you had a bit of a break, but Tuesdays you hated the most. By Tuesday night you would wish school didn’t exist. A day was enough to bore you to death.

Your alarm clock rings and you snooze it for the 7th time, not that you’re counting, and you groan, wishing you could stay in bed till the rest of the day. Maybe you can lie you have one of your headaches again.

Shouting from the living room keeps you from dozing off again.

“Talon, get your ass off of bed!”

It’s Cassiopeia.

Your sister is always the one to get you and Talon up and ready in the morning.

In fact, if it wasn’t for her, you are not sure if you’d ever be allowed to graduate.

“Talon!”

A minute or two later someone knocks on your door.

“You know the drill,” Talon mumbles in front of your door and walks away.

You sigh. Deep. Maybe you shouldn’t be an asshole early in the morning. You’ll keep your annoyance to yourself this time.

You get up and stretch until you feel like every bone in your body comes in place.

Your school uniform is perfectly straight and polished, neatly hanged on the door of your wardrobe.

Cassiopeia’s doing, she always takes care of that stuff around the house. “I can’t let you two looking like homeless people,” she reasons and never lets you and Talon go out with wrinkled shirts.

You get dressed and go to the kitchen. Both of them seem ready; Cassiopeia is scribbling something on a piece of paper and Talon is dozing off in front of a bowl full of cereal.

Cassiopeia looks up and an odd look of sadness flashes through her eyes until she smiles, maybe out of habit, and hands you a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.

“At least that,” she states, raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

You take it, reminding yourself not to be stubborn.

The three of you walk to school together in silence. It’s comfortable, the chilly spring air sooths your mind and you let your thoughts wander.

You split at the entrance, you and Talon go to the left and Cassiopeia goes to the right. She is a senior now and her classroom is at the far end of the hallway.

Walking in in your own classroom you notice a shock of white, some kind of a blob, taking most of the space at _your_ desk. You don't remember ever having your desk shared. You’ve always been alone. Not even Talon shares your desk. Odd number of classmates, and you’re _more_ than happy to be the one sitting alone.

You step in closer but the Blob doesn’t move. Maybe it’s just a part of your imagination. After all, who even has this white of hair?

Only when you reach your desk, you realize that the Blob is pretty much real, and a human and is now looking at you. It has crimson eyes, and when they focus you, they stay _on you_. Because staring is perfectly okay, right, you think, and yet, somehow it doesn’t annoy you as much as you think it would.

You feel an odd tightness in your chest and the need to stop being stared at grows like a balloon inside of you.

The White Blob _speaks_. Says her name is River, or Rivet, you’re not sure.

You nod and sit on her left, next to the window.

Today is going to be a weird day, you think.

**Wednesday**

Her name is Riven after all, you realize after she corrects you around three times.

You met only yesterday and yet here she is, sharing a table in the cafeteria with Talon, Cassiopeia and yourself and on top of that Cassiopeia is chatting with her, light and lively and you’ve never felt that confused in your life.

You eye Talon suspiciously. _What’s the meaning of this?_ You just point your finger at them and furrow your eyebrows.

Talon has always had this gift of understanding his sisters without so much of a word.

He shrugs then stretches his mouth into _something_ weird. Is this a smile? (It can’t be, that’s Talon.) Never mind. _Give her a chance_. That’s what he means.

 

And you do, you realize, after you find yourself walking with Riven on your way back after school. She wants to walk you to your house (Who does that?) and you find yourself going in circles because “Yes, this is the shortest way,” you lie for the second time as you engage in yet another topic of conversation.

She laughs a little, and suddenly you feel like she caught you lying, but then relax as she walks into a convenience store and walks out with pack of apple candies.

It catches you off guard because those are your favorite and it’s just a stupid coincidence (there is no way she knows) and yet it makes you feel a bit warmer on the inside and the feeling lingers long after you two finish the whole pack.

It’s midnight when you go home. Your feet hurt from walking and your teeth hurt from the sweets and you swear you’ve never been in the company of another human being for so long in your whole life.

But Riven is bright, engaging and she pulls you in like a magnet. She is made of whites, and reds and golden and she reminds you of a warrior, taken out of one of Talon’s fantasy novels.

When you go to bed, you dream of white and red and apples.

**Thursday**

Riven is waiting in front of your house the next morning and the four of you walk to school together.

She explains she lives nearby so it’s fine and you shrug it off.

Strangely, you enjoy her company. You’re _happy_ she walks with you. That leaves a weird taste in your mouth. You don’t remember the last time you’ve accepted anyone but Talon and Cass in your life.

She comes like a summer storm and you welcome her like you’ve been craving rain forever.

**Friday**

You’re not a shy person.

You’re not a person that hides from your feelings.

You’re Katarina. And when you want something, you get it. And that’s all there is to it.

Yet when she approaches after her soccer practice, sweaty and glowing, her muscles visible under the short t-shirt sleeves, your stomach makes an odd flippy thing and your throats suddenly feels dry _dry dry_.

“Hey,” she says simply and removes a sticky strand of hair from her forehead.

You’re about to respond when, “Good job, Riven,” someone calls from behind and you need to force yourself to look away from Riven and towards the intruder. You recognize her face – she is from Cassiopeia’s class and you’ve seen her around school but no name comes to mind.

“Keep up the good work and you might be captain next year,” she says, her voice void of any kind of emotion. Her face is still, yet she looks oddly fierce with her bright green eyes and ebony black hair.

You don’t like her, you decide then and there.

They make small talk, Riven thanks her and asks questions about the incoming tournament and before you can turn on your heels and walk away, Riven beckons you forward.

The black haired girl extends her hand, “I’m Irelia, the captain of the team,” she says guardedly.

“Katarina.”

Your answer is brief, distant.

A couple of long seconds stretch between you three.

“See you next week,” Irelia says then, to Riven, and when Riven bows her head politely, she walks away.

You two sit on the benches until you’re the last two left.

Silence has always felt oddly soothing and by the time any of you speak, you are not sure if it’s been minutes or hours.

“Riven.”

She makes a sound of acknowledgment.

“I think I like you.”

“Mm,” she responds.

The wind that blows is chilly, it smells like spring and dew and when Riven looks at you, her eyes are glassy, tired. It makes your brain buzz.

“I’ve liked you forever,” she sights out and her voice breaks a bit.

You don’t think much of this.

_Forever._

The word sticks to your mind.

It feels oddly right.

**Saturday**

It’s an unusually sunny day and you two go to the park. Riven likes it there, she explains and you can’t help but want to see her favorites places, see them like _she_ sees them, imprint them in your mind and name them _Riven Riven Riven_.

You like how her name rings clearly in your mind, you like how the sun makes her hair even whiter and her skin glow golden warm. And when she looks at you and your stomach twists in knots, you feel strangely content. A part of you wants to just run away from this, go back to being by yourself (nothing can hurt you then), but when she links your fingers together and makes a soft happy murmur, all your worries disappear into thin air.

She leads you to a big three, its branches curling high towards the sky. You observe it for a while and something clicks inside your brain yet when you try to explore what it is, there is nothing in your head but white.

“Something wrong?”

Riven squeezes your palm gently.

“I feel like I’ve been here before,” you mutter and the next thing you know is that she’s pulling you forward into a tight embrace that knocks the air out of you.

 

You spend your whole afternoon laying lazily under the tree. Riven has brought a blanket (how silly is that?) and you allow yourself to relax. You two are so close you can feel her warmth on your skin, and when she moves her palm just enough to cover yours, a bolt of electricity runs though your whole body.

She smells like early spring and dew and grass and you know, you know deep inside of you, that she’s here to stay.

 

Later that day, when you go home, and Cassiopeia calls you for dinner, you sit by the dinner table and for the first time in forever you don’t feel angry with Marcus for not being there for his children yet another evening.

Anger has been an integral part of who you are. It was the sole emotion that kept you going you after the accident that left the scar on your face and the fog in your head. It was the safe haven in keeping you sane.

But now you look at your siblings – Talon is reading some kind of a fantasy novel while Cassiopeia prepares the table – and you can’t help but smile a little bit. Maybe you don’t need anger anymore, you decide there and then.

“You seem happy,” Cassiopeia suggests and you want to bark something in return, you want to tell her to shut up, mind her own business. But you look up, ready to attack, and you see her _smiling_ (your sister barely smiles in that genuine kind of way) and you heart stops for a second.

Cassiopeia, cunning, devious and manipulative, cares for you _above_ all, cares for her siblings with such fervor that you swear at only 19 years of age, she could kill someone before anything bad happens to you or Talon. She has been there through bad and good and you can’t help but allow yourself to feel happy to be her sister. Even if it’s just this time that you’d admit it.

**Sunday**

You wake up early but stay in bed until noon when Cassiopeia barges into your room and forces you to get up and “stop wasting your time.”

She organizes a study session in the living room and makes sure both you and Talon catch up with your homework.

 

You scribble mindlessly in your notebook, when you phone buzzes, announcing a new text message.

_Hey_

It puts a smile on your face for the rest of the day.

**Monday**

If you thought it’s a spark before, now it feels like a wild fire, burning your body to ashes, fast and painful and you _cannot_ wait anymore.

You want to kiss her when you see her standing in front of your house early Sunday morning, when it’s still chilly and her breath comes in puffy whites.

You want to kiss her sleepiness away when she barely keeps her eyes open during classes.

You want to kiss her at lunchtime when you see her struggling with peeling an orange, eyebrows knit together in frustration.

You want to kiss her after practice when she’s out of breath and _oh so striking_ in her sports uniform.

And when you finally do, you two are standing in front of your house again and the sun is low in the sky, painting everything in shades of pink, and red, and orange.

You don’t think, you just lean forward and press your lips together and she responds a bit too eagerly and smiles into the kiss.

You lead her into the house and when she shares your bed and her name spills from your lips like a prayer – _Riven, Riven, Riven_ – and together you become a tangle of limbs and silent whimpers and you wonder how a person feel like you’ve _finally come home_.

When the evening turns into a night, and she finally moves, forcing you out of your daze, you groan because the cold bites your naked body and the bed suddenly feels so empty it hurts.

“Stay,” you mumble, your voice coarse from being sleepy.

Her crimson eyes meet yours and you find sadness on her face. She seems small, scared. It confuses you.

“Please.”

“Kat…”

You don’t reply. You’ve had only one please to say in this lifetime and you’ve used it up already, _for her_. In tingles unpleasantly under your skin. You’re Katarina. You shouldn’t _ask_ people to stay.

“I’ve never stayed the night before.”

Riven makes a confused face.

(Of course she hasn’t.

You don’t understand.)

Then she looks a bit startled.

And finally her face softens and she looks at you, smiling.

You heart leaps in your throat and when she returns to bed and wraps her arms around you, the whole world seems to stop and oh, you feel _complete_.

**Tuesday**

You hate Tuesdays. More than Mondays for sure.

As you slip out of bed and into the kitchen, Cassiopeia stops what she’s doing and looks at you, intensely. She is giving you the exact same look when she’s warning you not to do something stupid.

Then you notice it. A shock of white, and spark of crimson and your chest tightens until it shakes your insides like a powerful memory – like a déja vu.

When you come to your senses you look at Cassiopeia, demanding an answer. She – of all the things she can do – averts her eyes. Then you look at Talon and he just shrugs. _Give her a chance_.

“I’m Riven,” the Shock of White sighs out, almost as if it’s the thousandth time she says her name today, “We’ll be in the same class together.”

She doesn’t explain what she’s doing in your house so early in the morning.

She doesn’t explain why she looks like you’ve known her forever.

She doesn’t explain why it makes you feel so shaken.

Yet when she smiles, and it warms the whole damn room, you think that maybe that’s fine.

Maybe you will ask her later.

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation time:
> 
> Kat has short term memory loss after an accident and every week she forgets Riven and every week Riven tries to get close to her all over again.
> 
> That's why everything happens so fast - because Kat has this constant feeling they belong. Maybe her brain forgets, but her body does not and some memories are strong like that, they permeate all the senses.
> 
> That's why it makes Riven sad when she sees Kat falling in love with her again, because she knows she won't remember when the next week comes and it hurts.
> 
> But she's a precious cinnamon roll and she's there to stay.
> 
> So, yeah, sorry this is sooo unoriginal in terms of plot and sorry if you thought it happened too sudden. Meh, it was better in my head :D
> 
> Thanks for reading! Any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated!


End file.
